There are undoubtedly numerous non-monetary benefits to a good education (both personal
and social). However, in purely monetary terms the answer has to be quite a bit.
In 2009 the median income for men with professional degrees was $99,298 per year
greater than that for men who never entered high school. Men who
finished their schooling after earning a BA
made on average $22,966 per year more than men with only a high school
diploma.

It is also clear that if you want to maximize your income, you're better
off being male than being female. At every step, men are paid more than
women with equivalent educations. As you can see from the activity
How Much Do They Make?, men dominate in virtually
all job categories too. The Wage
Gap Fact Sheet shows that this is also true across racial categories. On average, whites earn more than blacks, who earn more than
Hispanics. Within each group, men on average earn more than women.

* If you drop the % sign, the contents of the third column in this table can be
thought of as the amount women earned for every $100 earned by men.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average annual expenditures
per household in the U.S. in 2009 was $49,067. That means that on average only
men with an AA degree or higher (46.19% of full time employed men), or women
with a Master's degree or higher (13.52% of full time employed women) could
afford to head a household as a single earner. Most others would have to go into
debt, or have one or more other household members work to make up the
difference; or some combination of the two. This BLS report is available online
at
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ce/standard/2009/age.txt

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also tracks the employment (and unemployment)
status of the labor force. Here is its data as of July 2011.

This article reports on the struggle of those without college educations
as they attempt to keep up in a technological economy. It is based in part on the
newly published "The
Forgotten Half Revisited".

A Marketwatch.com Special Report: Back to School (published
April 22-26, 2002)

This series, published in 5 parts, explores the efforts of
workers to gain additional education, in part to benefit from the additional
pay that comes with it. Here are links to each of the articles. Access to them may require a free registration.

Public Agenda
polled teachers, students, parents, employers and college professors asking
whether they thought a high school diploma meant the recipient had "at
least learned the basics". I found the
results fascinating. Sharing them with your students could lead
to a very interesting discussion.

On June 21, 2006, Talk of the Nation broadcast
a segment on the employability of High School grads (those who got a
high school diploma, but pursued no further formal schooling). It
should provide enlightening listening for those who believe that a high
school diploma on its own is the key to success in the world of work.

Have your students use the more detailed data available to prepare tables similar to those
above for specific racial groups (i.e. blacks, hispanics, and non-hispanic
whites). You might then divide your class into smaller working groups,
assigning each a racial group for which to prepare a set of tables. After all have completed their assignments, you could have each group
present its results to the entire class. Once all groups have
reported, you could go on to lead a class discussion where you compare and
discuss what was found.